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The Bitcoin.com.au Story Continues

On the 25th and 26th of November, Qntra ran a story in which we claimed the bitcoin.com.au domain name had been deleted due to a complaint lodged with auDA which outlined incorrect registrant information. In response to that article, Qntra received a statement from Shane Murphy on behalf of digitalBTC and Zhenya Tsvetnenko which can be read here. Shane Murphy clarified that the domain name had been dropped by Zhenya in his capacity as sole director of Magna Fortis Pty Ltd and not Executive Chairman of digitalBTC, an important distinction.

Qntra has additional information which it can share, information that confirms that behind the scenes, there was an agitator who had been attempting to have the domain deleted for his/her own gain as well as taking issue with the inflated ego he/she perceives Zhenya as having. This person claims to have a thorough understanding of the auDA rules so, when he/she saw that the bitcoin.com.au domain name contained incorrect registrant information, he/she lodged a complaint with auDA.

According to an industry insider, auDA were initially in favour of siding with the complainant but believes a policy maker at auDA came under pressure to side with Zhenya. auDA are believed to have made a defence that Zhenya was entitled to correct the registrant details. The complainant then pointed out that, as the domain had already been renewed with incorrect details, the domain must be deleted and re-registered according to auDA rules. Knowing the exact time and date the domain would drop, the complainant wrote a script for use in what was an unsuccessful attempt to register the domain name the moment it dropped.

While our source confirms that it was Zhenya rather than auDA which requested the domain name to be cancelled, it's alleged this was done with the intention of withdrawing the request at the last moment as the auDA rules permit such a tactic to be repeated again and again. It's clear such a tactic was not employed by Zhenya given ownership of the domain name has changed via the auction held at Netfleet.

Qntra has also received comment from someone claiming to be David Hollis, the original owner of the domain. His comment confirms the large amount of bureaucracy that surrounds the .com.au namespace despite auDA having relaxed the rules somewhat in recent years. The comment reads:

I was the original owner of the domain in question. I sold it because I didn't want to deal with said bullshit bureaucracy related to owning a .com.au

The domain was registered using my previous bitcoin business related ABN and wasn't updated after the sale. SEDO originally brokered the sale. Godaddy sucks and it is a nightmare to register and transfer names using them. I no longer own any .com.au domains as its not worth the hassle when you can just get a .com and not have to deal with it. I also owned bitcoin.me previously.

I have no comment on the facebook issue. bitcoin.com.au was a personal blog not a spam site. I transferred it to bitcoinpoet.com so you can go and look for yourself.

While his comments contradict Zhenya's claim that the domain name "has some serious issues", the nature of what makes for a good domain name and website is somewhat subjective and it is therefore difficult to ascertain which party is correct. But more important than that, this incident shows that despite numerous changes to auDA policy, it is clear the system remains open to abuse. This is a discussion that has persisted for a number of years in the .com.au namespace and is likely to continue until such time further changes are made to bring the rules that govern the com.au ccTLD into line with those of the .com TLD.